Clinical experience with two-dimensional echocardiography to guide endomyocardial biopsy

Two-dimensional echocardiography was used to aid right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy during 163 procedures in 83 patients being evaluated for myocarditis, cardiac transplant rejection, or drug toxicity. Thirty procedures were performed using combined echocardiography and fluoroscopy and 133 using echocardiography alone. For 80 of the 83 patients (96%) the forceps could be adequately visualized entering the right atrium, crossing the tricuspid valve, and advancing to the right ventricular apex and free wall. The catheter could be guided to biopsy the septum and sample multiple, separate sites along the right ventricular walls. By opening the forceps prior to contact with the myocardium, the right ventricular free wall could be biopsied without perforation. We found two-dimensional echocardiography to be a useful and safe technique for forceps visualization and manipulation in the right ventricle.